Stars on roll as they host surprising Coyotes

The Dallas Stars have awoken from a midseason slumber to win four straight matches, including back-to-back victories over two Central Division rivals ahead of them in the standings on consecutive nights.

Next up for the Stars, on Monday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, is the first of two games in five days against Arizona.

Dallas is coming off a quick trip to Nashville and a rousing 3-1 win Saturday over the Predators, the team immediately in front of the Stars in the Central standings. Blake Comeau and Mattias Janmark scored goals in a 43-second span of the game's final four-plus minutes, and Anton Khudobin stopped 38 shots to allow the Stars to match their season-high in consecutive wins.

Tyler Seguin also lit the lamp for the Stars, who have outscored their opponents 11-4 over their past four games and have allowed two goals or fewer in eight of their past nine outings.

"Nashville came at us in the first, and I thought we weathered it really well and got better as the game progressed," Stars coach Jim Montgomery told NHL.com after Saturday's win. "I love how our group has matured with handling moments of when the other team has momentum. We bend, but we don't break."

It was the second straight game the Stars found a way to win with the game with the tied deep in the third period. Dallas is 7-7-2 when tied after two periods this season.

"In the third, we came out and dictated," Montgomery said. "That's what you like to see is the change in our group's mentality in their belief of each other."

The Coyotes travel to north Texas after a 3-2 overtime loss in San Jose on Saturday, falling for the second straight outing.

Conor Garland and Josh Archibald racked up the goals for Arizona which, like the Sharks, was playing its first game after returning for the NHL All-Star break and a league-mandated five-day bye week.

Darcy Kuemper finished with 32 saves in goal as Arizona earned at least one point for a ninth consecutive start by Kuemper (6-0-3). He hasn't lost a game in regulation since Dec. 30.

"One point is better than zero," Kuemper said. "It would have been nice to get the win. It didn't happen tonight, but the effort was there. If guys were feeling a little rusty, they were making up for it with work ethic."

Arizona has been one of the league's surprise teams, staying in the hunt for a playoff spot despite missing three of their four regular centers (Christian Dvorak, Nick Schmaltz, and Brad Richardson), their top goalie (Antti Raanta), and both members of their top defensive pairing in Jason Demers and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, the team's captain and second-highest point producer, for stretches due to injuries.

On Saturday, the Coyotes played without defenseman Jakob Chychrun, who did not make the trip with the team because of a lower-body injury. Chychrun may be available when Dallas and Arizona play again on Saturday in Glendale.

"My big thing with the coaches is, `Bring it on. Let's go. Let's bring more adversity to our team,'" Arizona coach Rick Tocchet told the Arizona Republic of the spate of injuries. "We actually try to deflect it. It's actually kind of funny and you chuckle about it, because if you really think about it, you get negative."

Dallas took the first meeting between the two teams this season, a 3-0 win at home on Oct. 4.